Just Off the Key of Reason
by TechnoNebula
Summary: As she would come to learn, it was all just as real as her old life had been. SI. On Hiatus.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** I Do Not own Mass Effect; Bioware does. I would also like to say that I got the Idea for this story from Silver Queen's Naruto Fanfiction, Dreaming of Sunshine.

* * *

**Prologue**

At first, it was a dark place with warmth covering every inch on her body, a soothing effect to the blackness. She couldn't tell where she was, or how she got to there. She couldn't remember much of anything really.

Suddenly though, flashes of light began to bounce from behind her eyes; color dancing just off the edge of her vision. She could see pictures of distant memories, starting with what seemed to be a birthday party and ending with a group of miserable looking people looming over her as she lay in a dingy cot. The sounds of these memories were jumbled; only snippets of conversation filtering into her seemingly plugged ears. The feelings tied to these never ending flickerings hit the girl with an unfathomable force.

In the end though, it was just one big mess of words, emotion, color, and pictures.

* * *

Eventually, things calmed down. The colors and pictures stopped twinkling dizzyingly in front of her. The sounds died down to a gentle hum that brought peacefulness to her somewhat tired mind. Her body and mind seemed to be drained entirely of energy. She could sleep for eternity if allowed.

And eternity's what it felt like to her when she closed her eyes and submitted herself to the warmth and darkness.

* * *

Not all good things last. That was one lesson the girl was brutally reminded of when she felt herself being lifted harshly from her warm cocoon. A shrill cry sounded from her throat, filling the already loud room.

"She's okay," muttered a booming voice from somewhere far off. The girl squirmed, her mouth agape as she squinted her eyes, allowing herself to scream her discomfort.

She felt something rough brush against her, instantly warming her cooling skin. The being reached out her plump hands, grasping at anything and everything. A soft cooing erupted above her as large skinny and long things cradled her to something squishy and, oddly, comforting.

The girl blinked open her eyes, giving a sharp cry as the light briefly blinded her sensitive eyes. The being holding her rocked back and forth, softly cooing at her. Soothed by the movement, the girl peeked open her eyes. Color flooded her vision; white walls and a green looking material surrounded her.

"Oh, Lilli, she's so adorable!" squealed a feminine voice from above her. The girl looked up to see a dainty face with freckles speckled about her nose. A large set of gray eyes gazed adoringly at the girl, making her squirm at the attention.

"Let me see her," ordered another voice, this one sounding more hoarse than the one from before. The girl glanced over at the voice's speaker. Instantly the girl felt a connection to the tired looking woman who was slumped on a raised hospital bed. The woman, noticing the girl studying her, gave a lethargic smile.

The woman holding her took careful steps toward the bed and slowly deposited the girl in the woman's waiting hands.

_Strange,_ thought the girl as she felt herself being coddled to an even more soothing chest. _I don't remember being so small...and my name...I can't remember it._

As the girl pondered the mysteriousness of the situation, the group of people she had failed to notice went back to their work. A man broke apart from the group, a crooked smile adorning his stubbled face. He walked over to the woman and girl; stopping just mere centimeters from the duo.

"She's so beautiful, Lillian," murmured the man as he reached down to stroke first the woman's face and then the girl's.

The latter flinched slightly at the contact of the man's hand. Why was he touching her? In fact, why were all these people practically hovering over her?

The girl looked up at the woman when she started to speak, " We've waited a long time for you."

"You have?" inquired the girl. Instead of those words though, a garbled mess of coos escaped the girl's vocal cords. Her eyes widened at this discovery, and panic slowly crept into the back of her mind.

The man chuckled at the girl's baby sounding talk. "Oh yes. Our baby Felice is finally here."

_This cannot be happening!_ Thought the girl, now dubbed Felice._ I cannot be these people's baby! This is unheard of! A normal teenager being_ born_ as a freakin' _baby_!_

It must be a dream. Yes, a dream. These people, they were a figment of her imagination. That's all. Felice felt herself not believing this thought, no matter how much she wanted to. Not when a doctor of all people started to commented on her status, remarking how well a baby was behaving so recently after birth.

And she especially stopped believing herself when she was picked up from her, assuming it was, mother. And she felt it. Feeling herself truly being _picked up_ and being _carried_ out a futuristic door that blew cold wind across her skin.

That wasn't what totally convinced her though. No, what convinced her was when she was carried past a window and saw a city. A city that looked nothing like what those memories had shown her.

There were sleek flying cars. Or she assumed they were cars seeing as citizens were climbing in and out of the things. The buildings surrounding the area were huge, towering well over the 'roads' the cars used. Lights flashed and familiar symbols flashed on a tv-like screens.

And all of these things strangely reminded her of something. Something that, not even in her apparent previous self could possibly comprehend.

Was it possible she was in the Mass Effect universe?

* * *

_The only successful Self Inserts in this fandom all feature...guys. Since I can't seem to find any good GIRL self inserts, I decided to just make one myself (and this stupid plot bunny is ravaging my brain anyway). I hope you enjoy my brain child. _

_Oh and:_

**Feedback is much appreciated. **


	2. The Joys of Childhood

**Disclaimer:** Me no own Mass Effect. Only Felice and her family. Oh and maybe the plot too.

**I. The Joys of Childhood**

Felice had come to a now new and sympathetic understanding as to why children were such brats when their second birthday came rolling around.

The first few months after being brought home from the hospital were extremely trying. She couldn't communicate whatsoever with either of her parents. Unless crying and screaming counted, but Felice highly doubted that it was very effective.

It was infuriating really. She knew how to do everything that her parents tried to coax her into doing. Talking, for one, was a very irksome skill she wished she didn't have to remaster.

And then there was the event of potty training. She didn't even want to think about the impending embarrassment.

Sadly, since most of her days were spent either curled up in some weirdly enforced cradle or in the arms of her over eager family member, Felice didn't know much of the world she was born into. The only things she had been able to conclude was the date and the city she lived in.

The girl was a tad disappointed when she realized that she wasn't born in some exotic world like she had hoped. Instead she had been born in the now booming metropolis that was Seattle, Washington. The other tidbit of information that gave light to her current predicament was the fact she had been 'born' on November 11th, 2158. If Felice remembered correct (and even then she was unsure of the information), she had a few years until what she predominantly remembered: The Reapers' arrival.

Felice, to be honest, was terrified at the prospect of giant flea looking sentient robots coming to harvest all life in the Galaxy.

But she had years to prepare. Well she hoped anyway. Until then, she would bide her time, hopefully surviving long enough to actually be able to do something. Maybe she could start the Reaper rumors? Probably not. People would write her off as crazy and ship her off to the next open loony bin.

But back to the situation at hand.

After an excruciatingly long 24 months, Felice was now in her terrible twos. Inwardly, the girl was crying. She had to relive everything. She had cherished the moment when she had mastered the art of walking 12 months ago, but she was definitely going to love being able to go to the bathroom in a toilet. Even if her cousins, mother, and aunt were going to hover over her every second they could while she was in there.

And talking. She couldn't wait to talk. Oh the things she wished to say.

Of course, Felice had to share the spotlight now. Her little brother had been born not two months ago on September 11th. Now what Felice could gather from her previous life, she had not been much of a jealous person. In fact, her past self had _six_ siblings, so sharing was commonplace for the girl.

Now though? Felice couldn't help but feel twinges of jealousy as her overprotective Aunt Samantha and her oldest cousin, Kailee, lavished their attention on someone other than herself. Truthfully, Felice shouldn't be complaining. After all, she had constantly whined to the stuffed bear her parents had gotten her for her first birthday about them constantly hovering over her.

But still...it left an unpleasant taste in her mouth that Jason, her younger brother, had the majority of the attention now.

"Oh Felice, what are you doing?" cried a voice, startling the girl from her thoughts. The two year old lifted her gaze from the pillow she had been picking at to her exasperated mother.

The woman looked absolutely worn out. Lillian Skylarks was one of the few aspiring doctors in Xenobiology. Ever since the First Contact War, the woman had been studying in one of the local universities, eager to learn all she could about the new species of advanced aliens. Unfortunately for he dirty blond haired woman, having a fussy daughter did nothing for sleep. And when she grew pregnant with Jason? She barely had enough time for her studies, much less sleep.

"Your grandmother made that pillow! Ugh, I can't leave you alone for five seconds before you go off to wreck havoc on my blankets and pillows!" The woman sighed at her daughter before reaching down and picking up her progeny. "Well," she muttered as she turned to walk from her bedroom to the living room, "at least your cousin Kailee and Aunty are here. Maybe they can keep an eye on you."

Felice huffed. "As if," mumbled the girl.

Lillian seemed to get the gist of what Felice had said seeing as she grunted in agreement.

The duo arrived to the living room and Felice's mother gladly dropped her into her aunt Sammy's capable hands. "Thank you two for watching her. Really. It means a lot."

"S'no problem," beamed Sammy as she cradled her niece to her chest. "I figured you needed the time off. Since Henry is busy with his merchandise and you're busy with your studies, I figured you needed a little help taking care of my little niece and nephew."

Kailee, who had been occupied with Jason, looked up with a large grin. "Besides we don't mind one bit. They are just too cute."

Felice's mother gave a tired chuckle. "Well I'll be off. Comm. me if they get too much for you to handle."

Felice's babysitters waved off the dirty blonde and turned back to the children. Lillian gave one final sigh before making her leave.

"And that, Children," remarked Sammy when she heard the door slide shut, "is why you don't have kids while in school."

* * *

Felice's second birthday was a placid affair when her parent's finally got around to celebrate it. Not much can happen when the only party guest was a two month old; even then he wasn't a guest.

Eventually life moved on. Felice grew, her sentences (thankfully) got better, and she was finally able to be able to go to the bathroom without too much of a fuss. Life was good and easy. A year passed. And then two.

The only real interesting things that were worth mentioning were the times Lillian would take Jason and Felice out shopping. And man, wasn't _that_ an ordeal.

* * *

"Jason! Felice! Get back here this instant!" yelled a frazzled Lillian as she ran after a giggling Jason and Felice.

"Nuh-uh!" Jason retorted. The boy turned his head to look over his shoulder, his large gray eyes staring tauntingly at his mother.

Even though Felice knew better than to antagonize her mother, she couldn't help herself. After all, she _was_ technically five years old. Might as well play the part, right?

"Catch us if you can, old woman!" squealed Felice. Oh yes, how she missed speech. She would never take it for granted ever again.

Lillian groaned at the childish response. "Stop it right now you two! We are in public!"

_Does she honestly expect a three year old and a five year old to actually listen to their mother?_ Felice wryly pondered.

Suffice to say, the two children continued to run throughout the busy supermarket, their frustrated mother trailing not far behind them. Shoppers looked on with mild amusement at the trio, silently thanking God that their own children actually listened to them.

Eventually though, the kids had to be stopped. Especially when Jason managed to knock down two shelves of merchandise, causing the items falling to the floor.

The management was not happy when three security guards caught the rascals.

Ah, yes. Grocery shopping was one of the many things that amused Felice's advanced mind.

* * *

Luckily, time didn't seem as slow this time around for Felice when experiencing her childhood.

But soon kindergarten rolled around the corner, and Felice was not happy with the prospect of having to attend elementary school again.

* * *

"Come on, please, Lili? For daddy?"

"No."

"Why not?"

People were swarmed around the entrance of the school that stood not even two meters away. Parents stared curiously at the duo, and children giggled to themselves, all finding themselves enthralled by the show of stubbornness. It would be an understatement to Henry, Felice's father, that he was beyond embarrassed.

"People are mean," explained the six year old while crossing her arms defiantly. She gazed steadily at her father, who was beside her and one of those fancy cars- a transit car. The man stood just beyond the raised door of the car, a dull pink backpack being held limply in his hands and a stern expression fixed on his haggard face.

"I can't argue with that," muttered her dark haired father,"but I'm sure you'll be fine."

"I. Don't. Want. To. Go," Felice growled through clenched teeth. She was being juvenile, she knew, but honestly, she did _not_ want to go into a class of people who were surely not as smart as she was. It was insulting.

"Felice Julia Skylark, get your butt over here before drag you into the school."

Felice raised a hand and gazed with false interest at her nails. "No."

"That's it," Henry hissed. He quickly dropped his daughter's backpack and went to grab at her arm. Felice saw it coming though and quickly dodged the extended appendage. The girl stuck her tongue out at her father before quickly diving to the right to scoop up her backpack. Henry, not realising his daughter was complying to his wishes, spun around to grab the girl again. Instead of latching onto the younger Skylark like he had intended, he grasped at air. Thanks to his unbalanced weight, he was sent flying toward the ground.

Felice snickered at the disheveled man. "See you later, Daddy!" exclaimed the mischievous youth. With that said, the girl took off toward the entrance of the school, already being abandoned by the various students and adults.

Henry groaned at the dirt. His daughter was too troublesome for her own good.

* * *

After that day, her father never took her to school again. Later Henry would say it was because he was busy, but Felice would smirk at him and claim that he was too embarrassed to show his face after being outwitted by a six year old.

Honestly, they both knew who was right anyway.

As for the rest of the day, it was uneventful. Felice knew everything being taught, so she ignored what was occurring around her. When play time rolled around, she went off to the side and fiddled with a loose thread on her jacket's sleeve. Most of the kids ignored her and she ignored them.

And that was how her days as a kindergartner went.

* * *

_Wow. Didn't think a lot of people would notice my fanfic on just the prologue alone. Suffice to say, I feel like the cat that got the cream. I love all the Feedback, guys. I really do. And since I am so excited for this story, I decided to give you all the first "official chapter" extremely early...don't expect an update this early every time, m'kay? _

_Also this and the next few chapters are going to be the basis for the story...so sorry that it's basically gonna be fillers for a while...Oh and I promise I'll try to make the chapters longer as the story goes on... _

**CuHnadian-**_Thanks for the review. I appreciate it. And also thanks for the stories~_

**Darthjohn- **_Thanks ^^_

**KingHogborg-**_ Indeed._

Don't forget Kiddos:

**Feedback is Much Appreciated.**


	3. Encounter of the Fifth Kind

**II. Encounter of the Fifth Kind**

Felice sighed in exaggeration as she listened to her brother, who was sitting beside her, chatter on about how his day went. The bus they were currently sitting in was compact and loud, two things that made Felice feel extremely uncomfortable. So hearing a six year old rant on about his day was not on her list of things to do at the moment. Her absent gaze flitted from her brother to the person on her other side. Nikolai, her only friend thus far, was looking at a data pad strewn across his lap, squinting at the screen as he read. The kid was a little tall for his age and had sloppily cut dark brown hair with deep set brown eyes to match. He looked like one of those kids that you'd think others would flock to and squabble over who would get to talk to him. Interestingly enough, this was not the case. The poor kid was far too shy for his own good, and because of that trait, he didn't have much (if any) friends.

Felice was definitely surprised when the kid had walked up to her a year ago on the playground and plopped down next to her, apathetic as he stared out at the other kids frolicking around. After a few minutes of sitting and staring, Felice introduced herself and after that was the start of their awkward friendship.

"-and Jessica said that Andy and me had some weird disease called Cooties. Li, what's cooties?" asked Jason curiously; successfully snapping Felice back to the present. The girl turned her head to study her brother as she digested his question. He was still naive enough to believe anything anyone told him. Why not have some fun with messing with him?

"It's a deadly disease," Felice told her brother in a grave tone. "It infects the body and makes you die faster. It's contagious too. Right, Nik?"

The girl's companion glanced up from the data pad strewn across his lap, a confused glint in his chocolate irises. Felice raised one of her eyebrows, willing her friend to play along with the tale. The boy shrugged at her expression and turned to Jason and murmured softly, "Yeah."

A frown curved at Jason's lips. "Then...do you have cooties?"

"Nope," his sister replied, popping the 'p'. "I got a vaccine for it."

"How come I didn't get one?"

"You're a boy, so you were more susceptible to it. Mom and dad didn't think you'd need it since you would've already had it in the first place."

Jason's eyes widened. "You mean...I'm gonna _die_?"

"Well," Felice started," _everyone dies_...you'll just die faster."

The younger boy squeaked and started to blab out things like '_But I'm too young to die!_' and '_I don't wanna die!_'. The older Skylark snickered at her brother's panic, "Don't worry, you got a while until any symptoms show up."

"But I'm still gonna_ die_!" Jason exclaimed while flailing his arms about; successfully hitting his sister on the nose

"Jason! Calm down!" yelped Felice as she brought a hand to cup her stinging nose. "I was kidding! Sheesh, there's no such thing as cooties!"

"Bu-but-" the boy was cut off when the bus slammed on it's brakes. The trio was sent flying forward, their foreheads smacking sharply against the leather-like seats.

"Doesn't this thing come with a warning system?" growled Felice as she sat up rubbed her even more sore nose. She glared accusingly at a circular camera located at the front of the bus and then at the V.I sitting underneath it. "Or know how to freakin' drive?"

Nikolai nudged the Felice's arm, urging her to hurry up and get out of the seat. Felice looked to the dark haired boy beside her and sent him an annoyed look.

It took a few minutes, but Felice was finally able to step out of the bus. Her brother and friend trailed after her as she walked off to the side. The other kids on the bus rushed off and headed on their merry way.

Felice hitched her school bag higher on her shoulder and turned to the two boys beside her. She motioned for Jason to follow her while simultaneously waving goodbye to Nikolai. Jason eagerly went to his sister's side, and the siblings made their way home.

* * *

"Oh honey, I'm home!" Felice greeted as she entered the empty apartment. Jason skipped in past her, hurrying over to the refrigerator in the kitchen. The older sibling sighed and followed after him once she made sure the high tech door was locked behind her. She didn't want another chastising on how dangerous the neighborhood was and how she always needed to have the door locked. During the lecture, Felice had pointed out that they could _move_ to a better neighborhood but all that comment earned her was a quick swat to the back of the head and an even more thorough scolding.

The light haired brunette dropped her bag beside the door and followed after her sibling. Inside the kitchen a content Jason sat at the island, munching on a red apple. Felice found it so weird that a six year old would _voluntarily_ eat a fruit instead of some good old unhealthy junk food.

Felice glanced briefly at the upstanding data pad beside the fridge, reading over the note her mom had left for them.

_'Be ready for me at 4:30.'_

The girl opened the fridge and brought out some type of blended juice and bumped the door close with her hip. "We need to be ready to go somewhere for when mom get's home, Jason. That means no taking off your shoes because I am _not_ helping you put them on _again_."

Jason mumbled something incoherently into his apple. Felice gave him a narrow eyed look. Instead of acting on what was most likely a snide remark, the girl walked over to one of the cupboards and grabbed a glass. She unscrewed the cap to her drink and poured a generous amount into the cup. Once she was done, she capped the bottle and put it back into the fridge.

She took a hearty gulp of her drink as she walked into the living room. The brunette then plopped herself ungracefully onto tan leather cushions and leaned back into the weathered couch. Her grip on her drink slackened as she allowed herself to close her eyes and relax.

So far in the eight years since she had been born, Felice had been able to convince herself that this was some overly long and complex dream, even with her revelation at the hospital. But at times like these, when things were quiet and mellow, she couldn't help the emotions and thoughts that came crawling to the forefront of her mind. She couldn't help the reality of the situation wash over her.

Longing filled her heart as thought back on the few things she could remember. She missed the catchy music of her past self's youth. She missed the old and tenderly cared for books that had dotted her desks and nightstands. She missed her old cats and worn down stuffed animals she had slept with . She missed her old friends and ditzy family members.

She missed her old life back, and sometimes, she wished she could have it back.

* * *

"Why did you want us to come grocery shopping with you? I thought you said you hate it when we come with you," muttered Felice as she slumped further down in her seat.

Lillian's mouth twisted. "I don't want you two home alone. It's not safe."

"Yeah, yeah, I know all of that. No need to give the details."

"You better control your mouth, missy."

Felice bit her tongue. No need to get herself into senseless trouble. The girl opted for the safer route and rolled her eyes while crossing her. After the age of seven, she didn't get an excuse to misbehave in the market (the only reason she always asked to go in the first place). Plus, when she was forced to go with her mother, she normally took longer than needed to find anything.

"Don't think I didn't see that," Lillian said with a forced light tone. Felice resisted the urge comment.

After a few minutes of palpable silence, Lillian continued her previous conversation,"Besides, I actually need to go to the university for a few minutes for a meeting."

This enticed Felice's curiosity. "Can we come in with you?"

The woman looked suspiciously down at her daughter. "Depends on if you behave or not."

"I promise to be on my best behavior, mommy."

"Uh huh, we'll see."

The rest of the ride was filled with eager silence. When the transit landed smoothly on the pavement just outside the University, Felice quickly threw off her seat belt and climbed out of the flying car. Lillian and Jason both got out behind her at a much slower pace, much to the annoyance of the younger girl.

Felice had never been to the University. Sure the girl had seen pictures and had heard stories from her mother, but it wasn't the same as seeing it. And Felice was quite curious to see where her mother often worked.

"Now I need you two to not touch _anything_, you hear me?" Lillian told them as the trio made their way to the large door of the building. Both children nodded absently to their mother's command, forgetting about the warning after two seconds of hearing it.

The hall of the University was huge. Especially compared to Felice's current height and vantage point. A high ceiling hung over them and a large hall led them down toward Lillian's office. As the group made their way down said hall, Felice let herself admire the walls. Pictures of past Deans and professors stared back at the the brunette. Most looked impressive; some looked a little out of place. A few trophy cases displayed the school's past accomplishments, giving further insight to the school's history. Other than that, the hallway was rather nondescript**. **

"Ah Lillian, I'm glad you could make it! Oh, are these your kids?"

Felice's head snapped to the front, eyes darting around to see who was talking. Her gray orbs were finally able to pinpoint the figure who had spoken. A reasonably old man standing near the end of the hall greeted her sights. He looked mostly bald, had a wrinkly forehead, and had on a sweater vest and some khaki pants. His posture was more imposing than what one would expect from an elderly looking person.

"Yes they are, Dr. Williamson," replied Lillian once they were close enough. "I couldn't leave them home alone. Henry doesn't get back until around eight tonight. I hope it's not too much trouble that they're here."

"No, no it's fine. Come along now, Dr. T'Yos is waiting."

The woman smiled thankfully at the man; ushering her progeny after the man. Felice curiously walked after the man, wondering who this Dr. T'Yos was. Her name sounded quite...odd.

The group traveled in relative silence. Their footsteps echoed ominously in the hall, adding an eerie effect to the current situation. A few twists and turns later, they arrived at a door that only stated the room was room 443. The old man lifted a card that was attached to a lanyard encircled around his neck and allowed a scanner to scan the card. A light beep sounded and then a soft hiss followed as the door slid open.

Felice's jaw dropped when she caught sight of who was inside. A woman stood bent over a desk, her arms spread out with her head tilted downward, studying something on the table. It wasn't the fact that it was a woman at the desk that had her flabbergasted. No, it was the _skin color_ of this woman that caught her off guard.

She was blue; an asari.

The alien looked up from her papers when she heard the door open. Her dark blue eyes gazed thoughtfully at Lillian and her children. "Who is this, Dr. Williamson?"

"Dr. Skylark," Dr. Williamson replied as he walked into the room. The family behind him followed at a much more dazed pace. It was obvious none of them had seen on of the aliens that had been 'discovered' years ago up close.

Lillian was the first to regain her barings, a large and excited smile splitting her face. "Very nice to meet you, Dr T'Yos!"

The blue woman chuckled, "Pleasure's all mine." T'Yos straightened her posture and walked over to Lillian, a hand extended politely. Felice's mother eagerly grasped the asari's hand and shook it enthusiastically.

Felice blinked and shook her head. This was insane. An _asari_ was in front of her. Personally, Felice was shell shocked. She hadn't been expecting to encounter any aliens. Especially one so early in her life.

"You know," mused T'Yos as she released Lillian's hand and folded her hands behind her back, "I have a little one myself."

"Really?" inquired Lillian, a delighted glint flashing in her eyes.

"Oh yes. I take it these are yours?" asked the asari, gazing particularly at Jason and Felice.

"Of course. Felice, Jason, why don't you come say 'Hi' to Dr. T'Yos?"

Felice stepped forward and offered her smaller hand to the blue alien. "The name's Felice. "

"Quite well-mannered for one who looks so young," noted T'Yos. She took the younger being's hand and gave it a light shake. "I suppose you've already gathered my name, correct?"

"Yup."

"Good, good. Now who is this?" asked the alien as she stooped down to one knee to look a rather shy looking Jason in the eye. The little boy in question stuttered out his name, causing T'Yos to chuckled good naturedly.

When the introductions were finished, Dr. T'Yos stood up and motioned for the party to follow her."Well, I'm sure you're busy, so we might as well get down to business."

* * *

Every week following the encounter with the asari doctor Felice could be found with her mother inside the university accompanying their blue acquaintance. Felice was a little surprised that her mother agreed that she could join her at the 'meetings' at the university, but the girl held no qualms. It just offered a better chance for her to learn more about universe around them.

It was always an exciting affair that Felice spent every week in anticipation for. Lillian was a little astounded at her daughter's new interest, but didn't mind it. In fact, it made the woman a little proud to know that a little kid would be interested in alien culture and such.

It gave hope for the future in her eyes.

* * *

_Still doesn't seem long enough in my opinion. All well. I promise I'll try to add more excitement in the next chapter._

**Feedback is Greatly Appreciated. **


	4. Starry Eyed

**III. Starry Eyed**

"We're moving?" deadpanned Felice as she stood in front of her exasperated mother and father.

"Yes, Felice, for the thousandth time, we are," sighed Lillian, leaning further in the couch.

"And you, I don't know, didn't think to tell me this _before_ we actually had movers at our front door?"

"It was a sudden decision. We didn't have enough time to tell you; you cannot be ready for everything. Now go to your room and pack the things you _need_. We can't take everything with us." Felice growled out unintelligible words at her mother's demanding tone, but went to carry out the task given to her.

It wasn't fair. Didn't she get any say in if they could move or not? Obviously, seeing as she had learned just today that they were moving, the answer was no. The brunette had actually been rather content with life at the moment. At eleven years old, she was just blooming into her personality (again) and had been able to get a small cluster of friends. There was also the fact Dr. T'Yos allowed her to visit her daily. Their two-year acquaintance had unsurprisingly blossomed into a casual teacher-student relationship. The two were constantly in each other's company, Felice either pestering T'Yos about asari culture, or T'Yos inquiring about human everyday life from a child's perspective.

The girl blew out an irritated breath. In her past life, she had moved quite often in her early years. One would think that Felice wouldn't be so riled up about suddenly moving, most everybody did it. Then again in this life, Felice had lived in Seattle for at least a decade. In the girl's book, that was a long time; long enough that she wouldn't want to leave the familiarity behind.

Felice stopped just outside of her room and leaned against the wall, her fists clenching in an effort not to lash out at anything. She took a few deep breaths with her eyes firmly shut, coaxing herself to calm down. _I can adapt_, she reasoned. _It's not like I haven't done it before..._

A few minutes passed before the girl gave one last breath and pushed off the wall. She felt her once frantic rage-induced heartbeat slow, and figured she was placid enough to get to work. She chose to ignore the slight sting in her chest as she continued on into her room.

* * *

"No freaking way," Felice breathed, her eyes huge and round as she stared in awe at the shuttle connected to the walkway that she and her family were soon to travel down. Felice's mouth was unhinged; she had no words to explain the surprise coursing through her veins as her eyes darted around the space ship's sleek frame. Above the walkway entrance blinked a sign that proclaimed the shuttle's destination: a newly discovered planet that had a colony sprouting up called Horizon.

The girl couldn't quite remember the significance of the colony in the game, but she could faintly recall that Shepard did go there at one point. For some reason, the name of the colony itself gave her an uneasy feeling, almost like something was going to happen. _Oh well, I'm sure I have time to prepare. _Prepare for what, she didn't know, but she figured false comfort in the fact she might have an inkling of a plan was better than nothing.

The light brown haired eleven year old heard a chuckle sound behind her. She turned her head and looked at her amused parents and Dr. T'Yos. The asari woman had felt it appropriate to wish her companions farewell, and because of this thought she had decided to join the family at the station.

"You didn't tell me we would be leaving to go to _Horizon_?!" exclaimed Felice in an almost accusing tone as she turned her body fully to face the group behind her.

"I got a job offer there," stated her mother. The woman glanced briefly at the ship before she turned to the asari beside her. Henry walked on ahead of the group and headed over to the employee who was manning the counter beside the walkway entrance. Jason, who was beside his sister, just gaped at the large vehicle in absolute awe. "We're going into space?"

Felice, too preoccupied with the thought of leaving Earth to give the boy a proper answer, just grunted. She had not expected to leave the only planet she had ever lived on. Rationally speaking, the thought just never crossed her mind seeing as it was improbable that she would be able to leave. She had mixed feelings about the idea; on one hand she was ecstatic at the prospect of visiting an alien world, and on the other hand she was terrified.

"It's not that bad," commented T'Yos, who had appeared beside the youths while they had daydreamt. The two children snapped their heads to look at the asari in puzzlement. The alien, realizing that the children hadn't followed her train of thought, elaborated, "Traveling to new 's not that bad. In fact, I would say it would be an educational experience for the both of you."

Felice made no comment as her eyes flitted over to the space ship.

T'Yos chuckled as she crossed her hands behind her back and admired the shuttle. The trio was left in silence, all waiting for Lillian and Henry to getting everything in order. It didn't take too long seeing as not three minutes later the two parents came sidling up beside the hushed group. "They're ready for us to board," Felice's father said once he realized no one was going to say anything.

Felice glanced at her father and nodded. The girl turned to Dr. T'Yos with a large grin. Not caring if the blue woman minded or not, Felice reached up and hugged the asari tightly. The alien female, at a slight loss for words, stared in surprise and hesitantly encircled her own arms around the girl. "Don't forget about us, M'Kay?" muttered Felice as she loosened her embrace and took a step back. T'Yos gave a soft look at the girl. "I won't," she vowed.

"Good." Before turning around, the girl gave one more quick grin and went over to her parents. Lillian's lips were tilted upwards at the display of affection she had just witnessed while Henry looked neutral, his eyes focused toward the ship sitting outside.

The family, finished with their goodbyes, started toward the tunnel that led to the space ship's opening. Henry took the lead, Lillian shadowing him. Jason, nervous of the tunnel, grasped Felice's hand. The girl looked down at their linked appendages, but made no comment.

A woman waited for them at the entrance of the ship. She had slicked back hair and tight bun along with a formal skirt and shirt, giving her a professional aura. The woman's thin dark eyes glanced to the door of the ship as she gestured for them to enter. Felice was the first to go inside, and was blinded as blue light sliced the air. The girl raised an annoyed hand, attempting to block the intruding laser, a hiss escaping her clenched teeth. She heard her family shuffle in after her, and heard the door behind them slide shut. The blue light continued to probe the party until something beeped and the door in front of them glided open.

Felice promptly rushed out of the room, immensely relieved when she entered a sparsely filled room. People milled about what she assumed was some communal room. Chairs dotted the walls and random vases of faux flowers sat on high raised tables near a large window. The black floors looked to be flawlessly polished, not one footprint blemishing it. The people in the room varied in age, some old enough to be her grandparents, others just over the age of one. As Felice studied the occupants of the room, the squinty eyed woman from before appeared, and behind her, Felice's parents and brother.

"This is the waiting lounge. One of the flight attendants will be in here shortly to escort you to your room," informed the woman briskly.

"Thank you," replied Lillian, a small smile lifting the corners of her lips. The professional looking woman flashed a decidedly fake smile before turning to head back to her post. Felice barely contained herself from scoffing aloud at the woman's rather rude behaviour.

"Well, kids,, why don't you go find a seat?" suggested Felice's father. Jason bobbed his head and scampered off to the large window. His sister, figuring that she would find better entertainment with her brother rather than her parents, trailed after the nine year old.

The sandy haired boy had his face pressed to the glass, hand placed so they would hold up his weight while leaning against the glass. His gray eyes roved around the view the window provided of the runway. Felice, finding the scene not as exciting, plopped down in a chair placed near her brother.

"This is gonna be so cool!" Jason murmured, his eyes looking over at Felice. The brunette gave an amused expression and hummed in agreement.

The boy returned to the view as his sister placed her elbow on the chair's armrest and cupped her chin in it. Her own slate colored orbs roamed over to the window, watching with mild interest as workers busily carried various object into the cargo hold of the shuttle. The duo stayed like this until a stocky asian looking man entered the room and cleared his throat.

"I need all passengers with last names starting with A through M to come with me. The rest of you please wait just a little while longer while I show them to their rooms."

The was filled with low chatter as people gathered their things and followed after the stocky flight attendant. Felice sighed in boredom as she watched the last of the group trickle out. The room look almost bare when the door the group had went through shut; only a measly five other people (besides her family) were left.

"Hi," murmured a voice located near Felice's ear. The girl, not expecting the sudden intrusion of personal space, gave a startled shriek.

The other occupants of the room looked over at the girl, looks of annoyance crossing their faces. Felice sheepishly waved at them with a shaky smile. A few snorts filled her ears, but other than that, everyone went back to what they were doing.

"Uh, sorry?" apologized the personal-space-intruder. Felice whipped her head to glare at the person. The person, a little girl with stringy dark red hair and even darker blue eyes, stared at her. The girl looked to be around Felice's current age, and seemed harmless.

"Don't do that again," warned the brunette in a grumpy tone. "I don't like it when people breathe on my ears."

The redhead's eyes narrowed as her arms crossed, a frown tainting her lips. "I said I was sorry, jeez."

"It was just a future reference."

Her blue eyes rolled and her arms uncrossed. "Okay, whatever. Anyway, the name's Kinsie. Your's?"

"Hn."

"You don't like to talk a lot do you?"

Felice leaned her chin back on to the palm of her hand, grunting in response to Kinsie's question.

"Well, I guess that's a yes."

"Huh, who's this, Li-Li?" asked Jason, noticing the stranger conversing with his sister.

"Oh, your name's Li-Li?" Kinsie asked.

"No, it's Felice, and don't ever, _ever_ call me that, you hear me?" growled Felice, looking over to glare at Jason. The boy gave a bewildered expression before shrugging and switching his attention over to Kinsie. "Who are you?"

"Kinsie Jenkins. I'm guessing you two are going to Horizon too?" guessed Kinsie, leaning against the back of Felice's chair with her arms crossed and chin resting on them. Felice, finding it annoying that the girl was practically hovering over her, growled.

"Yup," Jason nodded, excitement coloring his tone.

"Cool, cool." Kinsie looked over to a woman who was calling her name. She flashed the siblings a grin. "See ya guys later!"She called as she hopped over to the woman.

"Good, she's gone," grumbled Felice.

"Aw, why are you acting so grumpy, Li-Li?" Jason asked, his face now turned back to the now vibrating window. The engine for the shuttle had started, and this had caused the floors and window to shake with the force of the powerful machine.

"She scared me and kept getting into my personal space; plus I don't even know her!"

"Still, you coulda been a little nicer..."

"Shut up, Jason."

"Whatever."

"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like you to follow me please," said the flight attendant from before. Jason quickly turned and darted to his parents, while Felice sluggishly got up and trudged behind her family. The group was mostly silent as the Asian man gestured to the room for the designated people. The attendant, named Ryo, showed the Skylark family to their room, which was located in the corner of one hallway that conjoined to another. Felice was a little irked when she realized Kinsie's family was going to reside in the room beside her own family's.

"Now, the pilot wants everyone in their rooms for take off, so no wandering around until the VI alerts you that you can," Ryo articulated as he turned and went off to do his own business.

Jason and Felice entered the room, their parents coming in after them. The room wasn't too big, nor too small. The floors were dark gray and carpeted; the walls also dark and filled with decorative paintings. One bed was pushed almost to the opposite wall with a nightstand sitting beside it. On the other side of the room, closer to them, was another bed with another nightstand. One door led to what seemed to be a bathroom while two other doors led to probably closets.

All in all, the room sort of reminded Felice of what hotel rooms used to look like back in her time...just more...high tech looking.

"Why don't you two get settled?" suggested Lillian as she placed her bags on the bed closest to the door. Felice shrugged and went over to the other bed and flopped onto it.A few long minutes passed with nothing notable happening before she allowed a sigh to escape her and bleakly mused, _This is gonna be a_ long _ trip._

* * *

_Woops...nothing exciting here...I think...sorry for that _;-;

_Question: _Should I have a Male!Shepard or a Fem!Shepard?

_Anyways, I hope you like it...I feel like I didn't get a whole lot done, but oh well; I got next chapter for that. Gotta keep ya'll interested, right?_

Please feel free to tell me about grammar mistakes or spelling mistakes.

**Feedback, maybe...?**


	5. Foundations

**IV. Foundations**

The familiarity of the planet orbiting below tugged at Felice's memories, struggling to shed light on why Horizon was significant. It was almost as if something was purposely blocking her thoughts on the matter though and this had often times in the past forty-eight hours caused her head to erupt into a splitting headache. Her mouth twisted in displeasure as she pondered why she couldn't remember why the colony had been important and why such pain came with the forced remembrance. Her cheek pressed against the cool and thrumming glass of the spacecraft; her body shifting to a more comfortable position. This was bothering her way more than should have been.

The sound of muffled murmurs drifted through the girl's ears, alerting her to the presence of the passengers behind her. Felice twisted her head to the side and surveyed what was going on around her. The people that she could faintly recall seeing two days prior in this very room met her gaze, all huddled off with their own little groups.

The girl's gray irises darted to a familiar figure that sat off to the side with two adults and one older looking boy. Bright red hair curled around the person's head was a main indicator of who it was. Felice gave a faint smirk as she observed Kinsie. The forty-eight hours spent on the space cruiser had not been as quiet as Felice had prepared for. Instead of the comforting engine purring in Felice's ear, the girl had a chatty ten year old. Ditzy little Kinsie had been a talkative storm of energy that seemed to have followed Felice wherever she went. The brunette wouldn't admit it to anyone, but she had secretly enjoyed the ginger's company and her constant humming voice that sometimes distracted her from her brooding.

A rumble from below alerted Felice that the ship was preparing to descend. The brunette turned her body to where it was facing the window head on and waited. The noise from what she assumed was the engine grew louder and the ship tilted in the direction of the planet in a downward angle. The scenery she had been supplied soon blurred. The planet's atmosphere quickly caught the space ship, causing its circumference to catch aflame. Felice bit back an awed gasp as the ship speedily made its way toward the large expanse of land she had spotted while in space. Fire danced enticingly in her vision, almost like a cobra swaying to a flute's melody. The brunette braced herself against the window, enthralled.

A hard jerk of the ship caused her to yelp and fall back into the arm of the chair. Most other people exclaimed in surprise; flight attendants scurried around to assure nothing was wrong. The ship bobbed up and down a few more times before it level out over a dark blue/green ocean. Wisps of clouds obscured most of Felice's sight when she finally was able to sit up and look back out the window. The water was extremely pleasing to the eye, looking as exotic as any tropical ocean back on Earth. Just off to the side, Felice noticed a flock of birds. Her head tilted in curiosity. They appeared to be some type of sea gull, but they weren't colored like any sea gull she could recall ever seeing. Their red, blue, green, and even purple feathers glinted in the sunrise's beams. Felice grinned at the beautiful sight of the ocean, clouds, and tropical looking seabirds. The scene was soon replaced though with lush taiga-like forests. The trees thinned out, and farmlands soon dominated the landscape. A small town sprouted off in the distance, cluing in that they were about to reach the docking bay. Felice leaned back from the glass, finding the excitement of the descent wearing off.

The ship smoothly slid into the bay when they arrived at the airport. The engine sputtered off to leave the ship silent except for its inhabitants. Turning her body into her chair, Felice made herself comfortable as she watched the passengers being guided off the spaceship.

"Li-Li, mommy says you need to get ready to leave; they're about to let us off!" chimed an excited Jason as he practically skipped over to his older sister. The boy was bursting with uncontained energy, and Felice really couldn't blame him. If she had been as active as he constantly was, she would have been dying to leave the fancy metal cage they were in.

"Okay." Felice stood up from her seat next to the window and stretched her arms above her head leisurely. The brunette then made her way over to her waiting parents. The small family waited in comfortable silence as one of the various flight attendants of the ship ushered the passengers off the spacecraft.

When her family was quickly guided out of the ship and pointed off in the direction of the luggage claim, Felice was extremely glad. She hated crowded placed, and the small hallway connecting the spaceship to the dock was not wide enough to house the ten plus people at once. The docking bay in itself was plenty spacious, something the brunette was grateful for.

Lillian grasped her daughter's hand and led the family over to the conveyor belt that contained their luggage. The other passengers went their own separate ways, including the Jenkins family. Felice almost attempted to hide herself when she noticed Kinsie waving enthusiastically at her. The ginger turned to look at a tall and thickly built man that stood beside her. A few moment passed of the two talking before the redhead ran over to Felice.

Felice, noticing that Kinsie had yet to slow down, braced for impact with her eyes clenched tightly shut and her teeth bared slightly from a curled lip. The eleven year old flinched when a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around her waist and caused her to stumble backwards. A snicker echoed in Felice's ears, causing the brunette to blink her eyes open and glare down at the redhead encircled around her middle. "What are you doing?"

"Hugging you goodbye, obviously." Kinsie leaned back to give Felice a cheesy grin. "And I just wanted to say I hope we see each other real soon!" Felice kept herself from squirming in the other girl's grip when she noticed Kinsie had yet to release her.

"Yeah...me too," muttered Felice, bringing up her hands to pry Kinsie off of her.

"Kinsie! C'mon, we don't have all day!" Shouted a voice from the direction Kinsie's family stood in. The redhead pouted as she willingly released her hold on Felice and took a few steps back. "Guess that's my cue to leave."

"Yep."

With the goodbyes mentioned and done with, Kinsie gave a wave and made her way over to her family. Felice watched as the redhead was herded away by the arm of one of her parents. When the family was out of sight, Felice turned back to her family.

* * *

A few days later, Felice found herself once again approached by the subject of school.

Unlike her previous encounter with her first day of school, Felice was actually anxious to attend class. It wasn't because she was excited at the prospect of relearning things she already knew. No, it was because she was going to be classmates with aliens. The very aliens that she just knew had fascinated her past self; the very aliens that she was currently excited at meeting. True she had met an asari, but that was just one species out of the plethora of other beings.

Contrary to the fact Horizon had been a solely human colony, the truth was that there were in fact a few other sapient species located on the planet. Her mother had curtly explained to Felice the day after the family had moved into their home that as a way of strengthening Alliance bonds with the Council, the Council had agreed to send in a few families to help the colony start itself out and possibly help the colony from batarian attacks. From what Felice could gather, this would not be a permanent thing though; thus allowing the girl to conclude that the planet would eventually become the sole human colony it was known as later on.

What species that would be inhabiting the planet alongside the humans, the girl could not quite guess. Salarians? Turians? More asari? Personally the slate eyed girl was hoping the salarians or turians. She wouldn't mind the asari, but she had already seen one and had learned quite a bit about them from Dr.T'Yos.

Felice was ripped from her reverie when she realized that the transit car she, Lillian, and Jason had been riding in stooped low and came to a jerking stop. The girl looked over at the small schoolhouse located to the right of the car. The schoolhouse was small; not many people were gathered near the door. Felice eyed the building with interest as she shuffled out of the car and took a few steps forward. Jason and Lillian followed after the brunette.

Cool air conditioning greeted the family, bringing a slight relief to the warmer climate outside. The floors were polished and the walls mostly bare save for a window of two. A reception area was caged off with glass, and behind a desk was, to Felice's surprise, a young looking man who couldn't be over 25. The man had neat and tidy looking brown hair with a pair of wire-frame glasses perched on the edge of his crooked nose. His attire consisted of a button up shirt and dark slacks from what she could see. When he looked up from the computer he was working at when the trio entered the room, Felice caught a glimpse of his bright blue eyes.

The man gave a polite smile as he leaned away from the computer. "How may I help you?"

"We're a part of the more recent batch of new colonists. This is my son and daughter...they're here for school," explained Lillian while making shifting herself in front of the children.

The man gave a nod and turned to his computer. "Their names?"

"Felice and Jason Skylarks."

A few palpable seconds passed before the man glanced up from his computer. "They're here. Room 123 for Felice and 109 for Jason. I can send map to your omnitool if you need it..."

"No, no. I think we can manage," Lillian assured as she flashed a smile. "Thank you."

The receptionist nodded and went back to his work.

The eldest Skylarks then ushered her progeny out into the hall. The next few minutes were filled with walking and looking for the rooms they needed to find. They first came across Jason's; Felice had to wait impatiently outside when her mother and brother went inside. After a few hour-like minutes, Lillian emerged from the classroom and continued to help Felice find her own room. It did not as long as it had to find Jason's classroom. It turned out that Felice's class was located just one hallway away from the boy's.

"Alright then, I guess I should wish you a good day at school." Lillian grinned down at her daughter and ruffled her hair. Felice, annoyed at her hair getting messed up, gave a muffled protest. Her mother just continued to smile before bidding her goodbye and leaving the eleven year old to confront her class by herself.

Felice licked her lips nervously, fiddling with her bottom lip with her teeth. The girl wrung her hands together as she contemplated going in the class now that she was actually there. Even in her past life she had hated the idea of having to meet new people in large groups. Being an eleven year old again coupled with her current and past anxieties did not help her make a decision. Deciding she was being cowardly, the brunette took a deep breath and dropped her hands. She then took a deep breath and entered the room.

It was a small class. Miniscule compared to the elementary school she had attended back in Seattle. But it was obviously much more diverse, even if there was only twelve other children.

One thing that made Felice feel excitement flutter in her chest was the sight of three seemed to be clumped together and had a look of what looked to be boredom plastered on their white painted faces. From what Felice could remember, she knew that the turians had had a grudge of some sort against humans due to the First Contact War. That didn't deter her eagerness to meet the military-centric aliens Something about their whole species just fascinated her, and with three live specimens being in the same room as her just sent her over the moon.

A throat cleared, effectively snapping Felice out of her stupor. Her head swiveled over to a woman who had close cropped hair. Her stern, yet warm looking brown eyes gave an expectant expression, making Felice realize the woman had asked her a question. The brunette's cheeks flushed in embarrassment as she mumbled out that she hadn't heard the question.

"I said, 'You must be Felice Skylarks'," the woman sighed, a look of mild annoyance crossing her features.

The slate eyed girl nodded in confirmation.

"Ah well, since you have quite effectively interrupted my class, why don't you go sit next to...Anslin."

One of the turian's heads snapped up and looked directly at Felice. The alien's eyes were dark from this distance, and they caused Felice to feel uneasy at the piercing expression held within them. The woman pointed towards it-him- and Felice stared. Noticing the expectant expressions of her classmates, the girl quickly scrambled to the free seat beside Anslin.

The room continued to reign in silence as the teacher went back to her previous lesson. Felice barely paid attention to the older woman's droning voice and instead opted to discreetly look over at her alien classmates.

They seemed to be the essence of rigidness and respect. Their faces seemed politely attentive-Felice couldn't be certain of their exact expressions seeing as she had never encountered a turian beforehand-and their postures were stiff and straight. They almost seemed like the (most likely) soldiers they were going to grow into. Their clan marks glinted faintly in the artificial light the room provided, accenting their faces in an almost flattering way. It made the brunette wonder idly if the marks were permanent or not.

One of the turian, a possible female seeing as her features appeared to be softer than the two other aliens beside her, glanced at Felice. Dark amber eyed the human with a look of contempt. It made Felice grow still and stiff and quickly snap her head to the front. A light red tinged her cheeks as she hurried to get her long hair to cover her embarrassed face. A quiet snort came from beside her, and Felice felt her face heat up even more.

* * *

"I told you I'd see you again!" exclaimed Kinsie as she promptly tackled an eating Felice.

The brunette choked on the sandwich in her mouth and flailed in the grasp of the little girl. Kinsie, noticing the older girl and let go. A sheepish snicker was produced as the redhead apologized. Felice coughed a few times into her hand before glaring up at the ten year old. "Yeah, sure told me. What did I tell you about sneaking up on me?"

"But you're such an easy person to scare; I couldn't resist."

Felice's mouth twitched as she refrained herself from hitting Kinsie behind the head. "Well stop it. It's not funny."

"Haha, sure."

The redhead then sat herself beside Felice. The table the two girls sat at were near the large windows in the back of the cafeteria. Unsurprisingly due to the small classes in the school, everyone had the same lunch. It wasn't as crowded as her old school had been by a long shot, even with all 300 kids from all twelve grades sitting in the room. The noise level was still loud though; and the diversity of the people nearly took her breath away.

The dextro-acid beings in the lunchroom couldn't digest the human food, causing the segregation of the two species to become even more evident. The turians sat off to the side, all huddled at the two tables they managed to take up. Their ages varied as much as the humans; Felice noted that there seemed to be no turian who looked older than the sophomores of the high school section of the building. Maybe it was due to a military training the species under went when they turned a certain age...or it could have been any number of things. Racism could've been one of them.

Felice herself in this day in age, couldn't recall ever experiencing TRUE racism. Not in the whole prejudice issue she had learned in her history class anyway. It seemed that in the 22nd century, racism for other humans had dwindled.

Racism for aliens though was a major problem.

Since on Earth not many aliens were present, the girl hadn't experienced the true effects of human single mindedness. Now here on Horizon, the prejudice was quickly becoming apparent. The grudge the turians held over the humans for the First Contact War still tainted their opinions on the younger race. Same for the humans. Even in the five hours Felice had been at this school it was obvious that the two species were having a hard time cooperating with one another.

Sometimes it astounded her at how narrow minded humanity could be...and how they could pass on that mentality.

"So, how has your day been?" inquired Kinsie as she munched on her food.

"Eh, alright I guess," replied Felice, pushing away her plate. "A little boring."

"Haha, school tends to be like that a lot, no?"

"Obviously, it's school."

"Hey, Kinsiekins, who's this?"

Both girls looked over at the sudden intrusion to their conversation. A gangly thirteen year old looking boy with wild looking red hair grinned over at them. He looked a lot like the current ginger sitting beside Felice. 'Must be her brother.' The gangly older teen plopped himself on the other side of Felice and waited patiently for Kinsie to answer his question.

"My friend, Felice. Felice...my brother, Leroy."

"Pleasure to meet you." Leroy stuck out his hand. Felice's brows raised and she grasped the offered appendage. Leroy's grin grew (if that was even possible) and pumped their hand.

"Hi," Felice said, apprehension coloring her tone.

"Aw, no need to be worried. I don't bite...much." At Leroy's comment, Kinsie reached over and swatted at the boy. Leroy yelped and dodged the hand attempting to harm him and scooted as far away as he could from his sister. Felice watched with amusement as her redheaded friend got up to go after her sibling.

After a few failed attempts of hitting her brother, Kinsie gave up and went back to her seat, a frustrated sigh escaping her. Leroy, finding it was now okay for him to sit back down, went back to his own seat.

"Don't bite much, huh?" sarcastically pointed out Felice, a smirk dominating her face.

Leroy nodded and placed his elbows on the table. He then leaned onto his interlocked fingers, an interested expression settling onto his face. "I heard you had to sit with some turians today...how was that?"

Felice looked back down at her tray of food while picking absently at some crumbs. "Not too bad...they didn't talk to me."

"Don't worry, they're all like that. I have this one turian in my class who..."

Felice tuned out the boy as he rambled. She instead concentrated on the fact that she would have to somehow interact with the bird-like aliens. She was curious, and when she was curious, she wouldn't stop being curious until she was satisfied.

* * *

Sadly, she didn't even get her opportunity at having an actual conversation until five months later.

The past months had been filled with adjustment. Her family had settled well into their new home and everyone was content so far. Lillian was a local nurse at the hospital, Henry was a salesman at one of the shops in the more populated part of the colony, and Jason and Felice were just a hair away from finishing the school year.

Felice had enjoyed this school so much more than the one back on Earth. Here she learned things not just the normal things, but extra things like many of the races' histories, and not just humans'. It was refreshing and enthralling.

Yet she was disappointed that none of the turians she approached would take the time to talk to here. It always deflated her when she would walk up to one of the aliens and attempt at a conversation only to get a nasty look and the being turning to walk away. Often times Felice would just laugh it off shakily, but she would still be offended that the aliens so easily dismissed her. It made her realize just why they sometimes got treated the way they did by the other students.

The brunette frowned as she walked down the halls with her younger friend, Kinsie. The redhead and her had become close in the five months they had known each other, especially since the ginger had a habit of trailing her around.

"Hey, Felice, I don't think we should go this way..."

Felice glimpsed down at her companion, a puzzled question in her gaze. "How come?"

"I heard that the older kids walk down these hallways...and they, to be honest, scare me."

Kinsie's gray eyed friend snorted and rolled her eyes. "That's stupid. Why would you be afraid of kids just a few years older than you?"

The redhead shrugged.

Felice resisted the urge to shake her head at her friend's silly fear. Instead of turning around to go through another hallway, the brunette carried on. Kinsie followed reluctantly, her blue orbs darting around warily.

It seemed Kinsie's fear was not unfounded. Just around the corner the duo saw two figures standing in front of each other. Felice was able to see that both beings were tense, and one seemed to have their fists clenched.

As they slowly inched closer, Felice saw something that made her blood boil. A turian stood closer to the wall, its eyes narrowed and looked to be getting ready defend itself. A boy, who was freakishly tall by the way, stood over the shorter being, a sneer spread across his face.

"I told you, bird-brain, I don't want you even looking at me," the boy spat as he got ready to push the alien further to the wall. Felice, not trusting the outcome of the scene, put a hand out to stop Kinsie from going any further.

"I don't know what you're talking about, human," growled the turian in a masculine voice.

Felice, deciding she better intervene before anything bad happened, took a step forward and barked out, "Hey, don't you have something better to do than trying to intimidate someone smaller than you?"

Both of the males' turned their heads to study the small girl who was gutsy enough to intercede. The human teen smirked and asked in a mocking voice, "Or what?"

"Or else I'll kick you in the balls," Felice retorted while crossing her arms defiantly.

Kinsie snorted at the comment and held back a snicker. The teen's eyes narrowed marginally as he took a step away from the turian. "Oh really?"

Felice nodded, attempting and failing to hide a smirk twitching at the edge of her lips.

The turian scoffed, causing all the humans to look over at him. "I don't need help from a _human_, girl."

"Ya sure? 'Cause it sure looks like ya do," commented Kinsie, growing more confident. She placed her hands on her hips. "Besides, if you didn't need our intervention, then you wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place, right?"

"Who says I nee-" the turian boy was cut off by Felice clearing her throat. She was gazing pointedly at both males, one of her brows raised and her foot a second away from tapping.

"I think we should all forget this happened and just leave," suggested the brunette.

"Heh, sure, whatever you say, girly." The teen gave one last sneer at the turian behind him before he stuck his hands in his pockets and made his way down the way Felice and Kinsie had emerged from.

"What a jerk," snorted Kinsie as she let her arms flop down to her sides. Felice nodded in agreement.

The turian gave his own little snort before he turned to walk to class. Now, Felice _could_ have left it at that and went back to her own business. That didn't mean she did.

"Wait!" she shouted as she ran after the bird-like alien.

The turian looked in annoyance at the smaller being beside him. "What?" he snapped.

Her mind drew a blank at what she could possibly say. She had thousands of questions waiting at the edge of her tongue, but she had no tactical way of asking them. So in her oh so admirable elegance, sputtered out,"Can...Uh...you answer some questions for me?"

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Because...uh...I helped you escape a fight."

The alien's mandibles fluttered and he gave a mirthless chuckle that sounded odd due to his voice. "I wouldn't have needed your help at all."

"But aren't turians supposed to be some of the most honorable species in the galaxy." Felice knew she was possibly playing a tad dirty by bringing in his honor, but she was desperate to have her curiosity sated.

The alien stiffened and stopped. His head tilted down and her stared at her with a hard expression, millions of most likely negative emotions swirling in his light green eyes. A palpable silence enveloped them as Felice waited impatiently for him to answer.

The bell rang, signalling class had started. Felice cursed and frantically urged the turian beside her to answer her request. The turian groaned and relented.

"Fine, but I'm warning you, this is a one time thing."

* * *

_Blah, Ending feels rushed. Oh Well. I think I'll put around 2-3 more 'filler' chapters before I really get to the action. Also, warning I might be editing the ending a bit...I was sorta rushed *coughannoyingsistermademehur rycough*_

_Thanks to everyone that reviewed, favorited, and followed this story C:_

**Unity9-**_Thanks for the Review, and thanks for the Idea, I'll keep it in mind._**  
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**Kasanra-**_This is Pre Mass Effect 1. I plan on going on to ME3 though._


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